Ida Pedersen

Ida Pedersen is the daughter of Christian Pedersen and Jensine Kristine Sorensdatter, both from Denmark. The Pedersen family left Denmark bound for America on the ship “Kenilsworth.” On the ship, many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints suffered from cholera and other diseases. After arriving in America, the family traveled to Nebraska and joined the Peter Nebeker Company to journey to the Utah Territory. The Company left Florence on August 7, 1866.

Ida and her sister, Bine, became sick with scarlet fever. Another sister wrote: “She (Ida) took sick, and little sister took the fever from her. So both my sisters lay there in the wagon together, sick. I sat by them and stayed with them, but did not take the fever. One afternoon Father stepped up to the wagon and asked how little Ida was. Mother said she had just been snoring and sleeping so good, Father said, "Well, look at her. Mother did so and found she was dead.”

Ida is buried, as is her sister Bine, and brother along the Mormon Trail in Nebraska. Their bodies wrapped in a piece of sheet and laid to rest in shallow graves. A monument in the Holiday Memorial Park remembers Ida, her little sister and brother who died along the trail.